Life in Hollywood, below-the-line

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

More Good Listening

There’s a reason I’ve listed (and linked) three KCRW shows – well, two half-hour shows and one four minute weekly commentary – over there on the right under the heading “Essential Listening.” If you’re in the biz, interested in the biz, and/or hoping to someday be in the biz, these three programs have much to offer. None will tell you how to make in this town, but each has something to say about the true nature of Hollywood and the film industry in general, and will broaden your understanding of (and appreciation for) the complexity and creative insanity endemic to the process.

Last week, Elvis Mitchell interviewed Chistopher Nolan, talking about his new film “Inception.” If you’re a fan of Nolan’s previous work (“Memento” convinced me he's a director worth watching), or simply interested in different approaches to making the modern feature film, this one is well worth your thirty minutes.

Rob Long knocked another ball into the bleachers last week, with a pithy commentary on the notion of Idea Theft. Writers beware – Rob has been there, and he knows your deepest, darkest fears. It’s worth a listen, and will take less time than stepping outside to smoke a cigarette.

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About Me

Born and raised in a rural pocket of the San Francisco Bay Area, I graduated from UC Santa Cruz clutching a degree in Aesthetic Studies. Armed with this paper sword, boundless ignorance, and a vision of Hollywood heavily influenced by the movie “Shampoo” (and seriously, what guy didn’t want to be Warren Beatty back then?), I proceeded to march on Hollywood in the spirit of a young man seeking adventure, a living -- and if Lady Luck deigned to smile upon me, perhaps a small fortune. Adventure, I found. A living, I made, but although Lady Luck has thus far kept me safe from harm on the road-raging freeways and bullet-riddled streets of Los Angeles, that elusive fortune remains but a shiny mirage on the road ahead.
I'm now playing out the string on a thirty year career in set lighting, trying to hang on until the bitter end.